Aoife Corcoran & Philip Crowe on the 50 people to watch in 2020

AOIFE CORCORAN AND PHILIP CROWE OF SPACE ENGAGERS. PHOTOGRAPH: DARA MAC DÓNAILL

Aoife Corcoran and Philip Crowe
Space Engagers

Over the past decade, as urban areas have continued to grow, so too has the conversation around what makes them sustainable. How can we future-proof our towns and cities? Founded by Aoife Corcoran and Philip Crowe, Space Engagers is a research and design collective of architects, social scientists, urban planners and others, working to make towns and cities more resilient. “It’s very clear that we are not integrating science and climate change impacts into planning,” Crowe says. “There needs to be more attention on bringing people along on these processes of change. It’s not going to work if you don’t bring everyone along.” Recently they have researched issues like vacancy in city buildings. A Limerick-based EU-funded project for 2020 is +CityxChange (positive city exchange), which involves taking a block of the city and trying to make it produce more energy than it consumes.